Charles Matthew Akers, 25, was shot dead inside The Fade Inn barbershop in Chicago’s Portage Park on the evening of March 19, 2010. Witnesses described the shop as full just after 8 p.m., with families and children present, when a gunman walked in, went directly to Akers as he sat in a chair, and fired multiple rounds at close range. The shooting was reported around 8:20 p.m.; Akers was rushed to the Stein Institute and pronounced dead at 11:15 p.m.

An off-duty Cook County corrections officer who had been seated a few feet away chased the fleeing shooter but could not catch him. Akers’ girlfriend, Neyda Ramos, said he had been trying to turn his life around for his 6-year-old son, while police noted he had past gang ties and said they did not yet know what precipitated the attack. No one was in custody immediately after the killing and no description led to an arrest; detectives appealed for information.